


Heart in the Flower

by mlyn



Series: Gods and Monsters [4]
Category: 13th Warrior (1999)
Genre: Historical, M/M, Slash, Vikings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-19
Updated: 2006-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-23 07:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mlyn/pseuds/mlyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a departure from the main Gods and Monsters timeline. It takes place sometime between The Tunisian and Roads and Their Travelers.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Heart in the Flower

**Author's Note:**

> This is a departure from the main Gods and Monsters timeline. It takes place sometime between The Tunisian and Roads and Their Travelers.

Ahmed looked up at the sound of his name. He had been absorbed in finishing the scraping needed for the small stack of skins so they could be dried in time for the first snow, and as he blinked at the bright doorway he felt his mind slowly adjust to thinking of something other than work. That was Herger standing there, silhouetted in the low evening light. He was grasping something. How long had he been back from the village?

Herger moved into the stable and closer to the fire and lanterns, holding out his possession. It was a clay pot with a lid. Ahmed reached out to take it by the top and base, but Herger shook his head and said to just lift the lid.

"They had a good summer," he said as Ahmed peeked inside. It was dark, but he could smell something powerfully sweet. "Lots of flowers."

Honey. Ahmed could make out the combs now, slowly draining their sticky load into the bottom of the jar. He looked up at Herger's pleased face.

"This is for us?"

Herger tilted his head. "Of a sort. I will make mead of it. You may have a little for your bread."

"I have not had honey since…" He had to think.

"Constantinople," Herger supplied with a smile.  


Ahmed put away his tools and washed up while Herger heated leftover stew. When Ahmed came in, he saw Herger tearing off large hunks of bread from a new loaf. The jar sat on the far side of the little table.

He sat eagerly and dug into his stew, anxious to have the bread and honey treat at the end. Herger ate more slowly and watched him with an amused smile, looking thoroughly pleased with himself and Ahmed.

Finally Herger lifted the lid from the jar and nudged it toward Ahmed, whose bowl was empty. He finished his own stew as Ahmed took his spoon and tilted the jar, watching the honey gather at the lowest point. Carefully he drew out a spoonful, then held it to drizzle over his bread.

Suddenly, Herger pushed his hand so the stream of honey went over his arm. Ahmed cried out and put the spoon back over the bread, but there was a trickle up his palm and wrist. Herger laughed and pushed his bowl aside, leaning back in his chair.

Instead of getting his own honey, he watched Ahmed. Ahmed glanced at his messy hand and gave Herger a reproachful look, but ate his bread without complaint. The bread was still warm and the honey light and sweet, seeping throughout the bread, spreading over Ahmed's tongue as he chewed. He hummed and took another bite, then another, finishing the bread in a few short moments.

When he had cleaned the last crumb off his thumb, Herger reached out and took hold of his other hand, the messy one. He pulled Ahmed's arm across the table and up to his mouth. As Ahmed watched, Herger snaked his tongue out and lapped at Ahmed's palm, following the trail of honey. Ahmed laughed as Herger watched him while doing this, then realized Herger was more than just playful. He fell silent as Herger continued, tongue cleaning away every last trace of sticky sweetness, making its way up his wrist to his forearm. And then the honey was gone, and Ahmed's arm was not long enough to go any further, so Herger leaned across the table and licked up to the crook of his elbow.

Ahmed shivered. His joints were weaknesses in more ways than one, and Herger loved to exploit them. Lately he was always licking or sucking on the inside of Ahmed's elbow or knee…or hip. Ahmed had red marks on his groin from all the sucking. He shivered again, thinking of how it had felt to get them.

Herger stood suddenly and picked up the honey jar. "Stoke the fire," he said in a low, warm voice. "And get undressed."

The hut was quite small, but Ahmed had his shirt off before he'd crossed from the table to the fireplace.

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a generated-title prompt for Mini NaNoWriMo.


End file.
